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Written by Lisa Neff
Apr 8, 2010
The Fulton Country Club hosted a prom to replace the dance canceled by the Itawamba County, Miss., School Board over a lesbian student’s request to escort her girlfriend and to wear a tuxedo.
The country club dance took place April 2, and was not well attended because many Itawamba students went to an invitation-only event sponsored by some parents.
Meanwhile, Constance McMillen and her attorneys await a trial on her lawsuit against the school officials who defended the policy banning students from attending prom with a same-sex date and mandating certain attire for males and females.
McMillen’s fight has captured nationwide attention and, according to numerous press reports, inspired other LGBT students to attend school dances.
The fight also generated new interest in the pending Student Non-Discrimination Act introduced earlier this year by openly gay U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo.
In McMillen’s fight, the American Civil Liberties Union has maintained that the U.S. Constitution and case law is on the student’s side, but activists have said passage of Polis’ measure would be monumental in protecting LGBT students nationwide.
The bill, which has 82 co-sponsors, would make discrimination in schools based on sexual orientation or gender identity/expression against the law. Federal civil rights statutes expressly address discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability or national origin, but they do not explicitly include sexual orientation or gender identity and, as a result, LGBT students and parents have often had limited legal recourse for this kind of discrimination.
“Far too many schools do nothing to address the hostile environments that LGBT students face,” Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network after the bill’s introduction. “We owe it to our children to do everything we can to make sure that discrimination is eliminated from our schools.”
GLSEN, American Association of University Women, American Civil Liberties Union, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, Human Rights Campaign, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, School Social Work Association and Transgender Law Center have endorsed SNDA.
The bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor and is under review.
